Global Governance and the Critical Public

The last great social movement of the twentieth century was the anti-corporate globalization movement, whose primary goal was to democratize international government organizations by opening up their deliberations to the public. However, the movement suffered a dramatic setback after the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. By examining the overlapping and oftentimes contradictory history of political and economic liberalism, the historical debate between advocates and opponents of publicity in governance, and the shifting rhetorical strategies of corporate globalization supporters and their critics, this essay surveys the prospects for global governance as we enter the new millennium.